


Underground

by inqwex



Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-07-07
Packaged: 2018-10-22 13:03:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10697577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inqwex/pseuds/inqwex
Summary: The first six months of being underground have passed, and the Sanctuary staff think they've finally found their feet alongside New Praxis. Things are never that easy, or that simple, particularly when you have Nikola Tesla on staff...





	1. Treaty

**Author's Note:**

> I'm trying to make this as canon-like as possible, so it does feature canon pairings. I haven't listed them all because they're not the main focus of the story, but expect to see Will/Abbey, Erika/Henry, Kate/Garris. The complex relationships between Tesla and Magnus and Druitt also feature. Each chapter will feature a different character and their take on events as they unfold.

Garris squeezed her hand tightly, just briefly, before letting it go again. Kate gave him a brief glance in silent thanks, before reaching out and pressing the silver button on the screen. It made a buzzing noise, and, immediately, Will’s face appeared on the monitor, blinking at her owlishly.

“Dr Zimmerman,” Kate couldn’t hide the touch of mocking friendliness in her tone, and he, despite the day, smiled fondly at her.

“Miss Freelander,” he replied with the same hint of mocking to the formal address. This tone disappeared entirely as he looked beyond her, to the small crowd of dignitaries arranged behind her. “Welcome to the Sanctuary.”

It’s a very Magnus bit of melodrama, Kate thought, as the large gate cut into the stone tunnel slowly swung open to reveal the biome her boss had spent a century developing. The scent of fresh grass washed over the group, accustomed to living in musty corridors and she immediately noticed the positive effect this had on them.

Will stood inside the front gate, for once wearing a suit that fit. He'd obviously fiddled with his tie, which was slightly crooked, but looked otherwise very smart.

“Dr Will Zimmerman, the deputy director of the Sanctuary,” she introduced him to the leader of New Praxis. [Nominally, anyway. They don’t really have a leader in New Praxis, just an endless series of committees in an attempt to ensure every race was represented. The Naga Aadita, as the eldest of the Abnormals, had been chosen to lead the Council and in practice directed much of the committees’ efforts].

Will shook hands like a born diplomat, saying a different thing to every one of the twenty delegates to the Sanctuary. Kate wondered if he’s noticed that the tension in the group has grown since realising they are not being greeted by Helen Magnus herself.

Of course, with his freaky eyeballs, he had, to her relief. It’d taken months of work to get this delegation here. Kate would never have chosen to be a diplomat, and had muddled through over the last few months. [She also had no idea why they had to meet today and have a series of meetings about parts of the treaty to establish the role of the Sanctuary in the New Praxis world - it had already been written over videoconference calls and brief visits by Magnus to New Praxis].

“Dr Magnus sends her apologies that she was not here to greet you herself,” he said, smoothing ruffled feathers (in the case of Ryax, literally), “but there was an…incident…in one of the labs that she had to sort out. One of our lab assistants accidentally blew up part of Lab 7, so she’s coordinating clean up and has asked me to show you the grounds in her stead before we adjourn for lunch.”

It wasn't really a disruption to the schedule (the grounds tour had always been the first itinerary item anyway), and Kate breathed a relieved sigh to see the delegates relax. She tuned out most of Will’s tour as she’d seen the grounds plenty of times before, and let Garris drag her around by the hand while she let her own thoughts wander.

The delegation were suitably awed by the grounds and the technology used to build it, firing questions at Will that he couldn’t answer. (He’d clearly been briefed well on the general ideas, but obviously further than that was beyond him. Magnus was the biologist after all). They were particularly fascinated by the microbiomes within the main sphere, allowing sections of the river and lake to be designated fresh or salty depending on the preference of various rare species. Will also briefly made mention of the sand dunes beyond the hill, but thankfully didn’t make to take them there. Kate made a point to wave to Sally, who had happily and briefly poked her head out from the edge of the lake near the Big Guy’s tree. Kate didn’t need the brush of Sally’s thought pattern across her consciousness to make a plan to visit with the mermaid later. By the time they reached the main facility, everyone in the group was starting to look a little weary and hungry.

Magnus was standing by the door, looking immaculate as she almost always did. “Welcome,” she smiled pleasantly, gaze travelling over the group. “I’m sorry not to have greeted you at the main gate, but unfortunately there was a mishap in Lab 7.”

“Scientists will be scientists,” Aadita, the Naga, replied with a sibilant hiss. “Speaking of which, we are very impressed and interested at all the micro-environments you have generated.”

Magnus beamed, excitement gleaming from her eyes. “It’s a work in progress,” she replied modestly, “but we’re hoping to develop the ability to generate a viable environment for any biological needs.”

Magnus gestured the group in, showing them to the main commissary. A section had been set aside for the delegation, but Kate knew that the aim of the trip is largely to de-mystify the Sanctuary. (Without exposing them to Tesla, of course).

Other Abnormals and staff at the Sanctuary had obviously made a point of coming down to see the new arrivals, nudging each other and trying not to stare too conspicuously. Kate noticed that there was a distinct lack of Chemical Engineering staff (Lab 7’s purview).

Lunch put them behind schedule. Ryax was a biologist, and he’d spent most of the meal peppering Magnus with questions about the biome while other members of the delegation had wandered off at Aadita’s discreet signal to mingle with the staff and residents of the Sanctuary. They'd finally rounded up all the delegates into the main conference room, where Magnus, Will, Aadita, and Garris seemed to delight in picking over the treaty's finer points.

Kate forced herself to stay awake through the dry discussion about the sections of the treaty referring to the legal status of the Sanctuary with respect to New Praxis.

Essentially, the Sanctuary’s focus was changing from being just a home for Abnormals to being, essentially, a giant, independent, university. [Which also housed Abnormals].

Magnus had iterated her desire to change from what, she had ruefully admitted, was a part zoo, part asylum model. Underground as they were, some of the Abnormals could now be left to roam freely within the extensive grounds without fear of being spotted and targeted. Kate knew that this had improved every resident’s spirits immensely, with people like Sally in particular revelling in the freedom they had now been afforded.

However, she’d also been equally firm about remaining independent from New Praxis, not wanting research to be under any oversight but her own. Kate thought this to be wise, given the deep fractures that remained between the New Praxis groups. The Sanctuary staying out of their politics was only a good thing, and turning the facility into a research and science community would foster (hopefully) sharing of knowledge.

New Praxis had been accepting of that agenda, and most of the arguments had focussed on Magnus’ firm statement that the Sanctuary would continue to be a safe place. Both sides had compromised; while a person could seek Sanctuary at any point, New Praxis could demand an open trial for anyone who claimed Sanctuary and impose any punishment short of death if the person was found guilty by a panel of New Praxian and Sanctuary leaders.

They’d adjourned for a brief break after the treaty signing, and Kate couldn’t help but grin broadly at Henry who had edged awkwardly into the room, looking supremely uncomfortable in his clearly new suit.

“Hi,” she said, throwing her arms around him, “how are you, Dad?”

Henry beamed, nervousness forgotten, immediately pulling out his smartphone. “He’s so big!”

Kate made the appropriate cooing sounds over the photos of baby Al that she was being shown.

“How’s Erika settling in?” she asked.

Erika had visited the Sanctuary with the intention of only being there briefly for the baby’s birth before returning to the HAP house. From what Kate had learnt with great amusement, she’d apparently seen the facilities, loved them, and now the majority of the HAP pack (a term Henry hated, and which Kate made a point of using as much as possible) migrated between the Sanctuary’s labs and their own in Oldham.

“Good,” a pained expression settled over his face. “She’s stuck in this IT project that the Doc wanted her to look at, a way of improving holographic projections. She hasn’t left the lab in days!”

“Leaving you with Baby Al,” Kate raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. “Now you know what centuries of women have gone through.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Henry muttered.

“Where is Baby Al?” she asked.

“Oh, he’s napping in a cot in her lab,” he waved a hand dismissively. “He’ll be fine.”

“Henry,” Magnus beckoned the HAP over, and Kate heralded the next meeting with a sigh.

Despite his obvious nerves, Henry (the newly christened Director of Security and Information Technology) handled his presentation with aplomb, describing the lab set up.

“We’d love to see the labs, if we might,” Conrad, one of the Vekerians, spoke up eagerly.

Henry looked over at Magnus, who shrugged.

“We’re two hours behind schedule,” Aadita said warily. “And I doubt the physical space will add much to the images and video already shown to us.”

“I’d be happy to make accommodation available for any who wish to view the labs and stay overnight,” Magnus suggested smoothly. “They could travel back in the morning.”

“Very well,” Aadita said. “But the tours of the labs will have to wait until after we formalise these last sections of the treaty on security and research.”

Conrad sighed unhappily, but didn’t object.

“Henry, do you want to get the heads of departments together and be ready to guide our guests through their labs? Obviously not Porok, I’m sure she’s still working on clean up,” Magnus instructed Henry.

“Sure,” Henry replied, before his eyes grew wide. “All of them?”

“If suitable,” Magnus’ words were loaded, and Kate understood that the message _not_ to include Tesla was received by the way Henry’s shoulders relaxed.

Technically, he was the entire electromagnetic department, not just in charge of it. Old prejudices died hard, however, and Magnus and Kate had very carefully kept Nikola’s presence quiet. Vampires were not welcome. It had taken Magnus months to break down the automatic suspicion against her, given the vampire alarms went off every time she went within fifty metres of New Praxis.

These last two sections of the treaty were more swiftly concluded as many of the delegates were clearly keen to see the rest of the labs.

Even those who weren’t scientists stayed behind after the signing of the Treaty to go down and see the facilities. The department heads all looked more than rattled as the small army of New Praxians descended and started asking questions about the various fields as soon as introductions had been concluded.

For a moment, Kate thought they’d got away with excluding Tesla, then she heard Conrad’s strident voice over the crowd.

“Do you not cover electromagnetism?” he asked in his harsh, almost German accent. “You are now living underground, how can nobody here be studying the magnetic properties of your surroundings?!”

Henry’s hesitation spoke volumes.

“Is there someone you don’t want us to meet?” Aadita’s hiss, while soft, somehow cut through the surrounding chatter and silence fell.

Superficially, Magnus remained calm, but Kate noticed her eyes tighten minutely.

“He’s quite a …difficult… personality,” Magnus said diplomatically. “In the interests of full disclosure, Nikola was one of the university friends of mine that also injected Sanguine Vampiris blood.”

Garris shot Kate a sharp look, and she winced inwardly.

“He’s in the middle of an experiment and didn’t want interruptions,” Henry said apologetically.

“Interruptions – or supervision?” Aadita’s voice was colder now.

“His lab is this way,” Magnus said smoothly, pointing to the end of the corridor.

Seeing as Garris was in the small knot of people wanting to meet Tesla, Kate followed the group down to the end of the corridor.

Magnus touched the button at the screen outside his closed lab, and the buzzer sounded again. Somewhat predictably, there was no response. She buzzed again, and then a third time.

“What is it, Henry?” Nikola’s face appeared on the screen, although he was clearly looking off camera at something else as he snapped a reply.

“Hello, Nikola,” Magnus’ voice was indulgent, and Tesla’s face snapped around at the sound.

“Helen, and friends,” he sounded distinctly unimpressed. “I thought you were still busy going through that tedious document.”

“We’ve finished, and these people would like to see your lab,” she said patiently.

Tesla ran an unimpressed eye over the group.

“I’m busy,” he said, “and there are delicate experiments in here. I don’t want a bunch of diplomats trampling through my lab like a herd of barbarians.”

“I’m not a barbarian, I’m a scientist –” Conrad began to huff.

“That’s what Edison said, and we all know that he was nothing more than a man of average intellect and above-average avarice,” Tesla retorted.

Kate knew that the full weight of the insult had been lost on Conrad, but nonetheless winced as the delegates began to bristle at his tone.

“Nikola,” Magnus said sharply. A brief conversation was conducted silently, and Tesla gave a melodramatic sigh.

“ _Fine_ ,” he snapped. “But don’t blame me if someone gets fried because they can’t keep their grubby mitts off my equipment.”

Kate sniggered at his wording, flushing slightly as people turned to look at her. The door slid open, and Tesla moved rapidly from his computer at the other end of the lab to the door.

“I can see why he wasn’t dragged out to meet us like the others,” Aadita said dryly.

“I’d apologise, but I've long since stopped holding myself accountable for his actions,” Magnus replied evenly, an amused smile touching the corners of her mouth as Tesla attempted to herd the excited Conrad away (the Vekerian had spotted something scrawled on the blackboard and enthusiastically started exclaiming about stable stasis fields).

“He’s a pain in the ass like that to everyone,” Kate said bluntly, drawing a surprised hiss of amusement from Aadita.

“He is a genius though,” Magnus said admiringly.

The impromptu lab tour had worked wonders though, Kate mused, as she wearily headed to Magnus’ office for a debrief after the delegates had all been rounded up and put into quarters. Scientists were, after all, excitable once in a room together and the discussions had ranged for hours. It was the most promising sign that there could be collaboration on research – and even Tesla had been reluctantly drawn into discussions about stable stasis fields with Conrad.

Still, it troubled her that they’d not been entirely honest about him. It troubled her that Garris didn’t know…and in a way it troubled her that she was worrying about Garris’ feelings if he ever found out.

Unsurprisingly, for a debrief attended by Tesla, who sat on the arm of Magnus’ chair much to her clear (amused?) irritation, there were liberal glasses of wine available.

Halfway through the second glass of red, when the conversation had turned slightly lighter, Kate couldn’t contain her question any more.

“I’d like to tell Garris,” she blurted out.

“Tell him what?” Will asked, tie undone, from his place on the lounge.

“About Tesla.”

Magnus and Tesla exchanged looks, and Henry abruptly sat back up, looking more alert and fidgety than half-asleep.

“I’m not ashamed of being Sanguine Vampiris,” Tesla started. “But it would be inconvenient for under-educated mobs to be coming to the Sanctuary with stakes, holy water, garlic, and all other manner of other primitive 'weapons'."p>

“I – we can trust him,” Kate said.

“You saw how they reacted to the idea of Source Blood,” Will objected, leaning forward. “Imagine what they’ll do if they find out we have a full-blown vampire in our midst.”

“I’m not talking about making an announcement to all of New Praxis,” Kate defended.

“Just your boyfriend,” Henry drew out the word, obviously hoping to lighten the atmosphere. She rolled her eyes at him.

“Not tonight while they’re all here,” Magnus said finally. “But ask him to stay longer after the rest of the delegates go tomorrow. Ask him to stay for a few days.”

Kate nodded, a slight chill rolling down her spine. She only hoped that her faith in him was justified, and he trusted her.

Because Helen Magnus had an edge of grimness to her voice, and Kate knew that she would not suffer any harm to come to those within the Sanctuary’s walls.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, dates! There's no way to reconcile show canon with real life (e.g. the Ripper murders started in 1888, but the show implies that Druitt tried to pin the blame on Nikola - who was in the States by 1884).

Garris was oddly serious for someone with Kate. It worked, though, weirdly. She seemed happier than Henry had ever seen her, like she was more comfortable. She was still the same Kate – bitingly sarcastic and a bit lazy, but it was kind of more relaxed.

Henry liked Garris, he guessed. The other man was nice enough, and it was kind of funny to smell the nerves every time he was around the Doc. [Not that Henry could blame him; he’d grown up with Magnus after all, and she had a way of still making him feel like an awkward schoolboy. Henry thought that Tesla was probably the only person she didn’t have that effect on].

As head of security, however, he was not super keen on letting Garris in to the secret about Tesla. Sure the vampire could be a jerk sometimes, but the Sanctuary was definitely better off with him working with them (and not roaming around the world creating vampire armies or weapons of mass destruction somewhere). Even if that weren’t the case, there was no way the Doc would hand Tesla over to New Praxis, and then things would get ugly.

He’d been overruled in the meeting. Will, who as a normal human didn’t always get things like this, figured it was better that Garris know (thus potentially making him an ally). Plus Will didn’t actually care if Tesla was handed over.

The Doc had been more reserved but had also agreed. Henry figured she was using it as a test case.

Still, the plan to get Garris to know Tesla first _then_ tell him wasn’t exactly working. Tesla had been convinced he’d made “a break” in whatever mad scheme he was working on, and so had been sulky and painfully annoying every time he was interrupted to spend time with Garris.

The New Praxian had been somewhat nonplussed to find that his girlfriend had kept pushing the two of them together too. At meals they were seated together, Kate kept dragging him to Tesla’s lab…

So, as Henry settled into his spot in Magnus’ study for the nightly debrief, he felt uneasy. It was the second last night Kate and Garris were spending at home, and they’d agreed that tonight would be the night they’d tell Garris about Tesla.

“You all seem very on edge,” Garris remarked, as the conversation faltered.

Kate shot a look at Magnus, who simply nodded.

Henry leant forward in his seat slightly as Kate took a deep breath and took Garris’ hand.

“I- we need to tell you something,” she said, and Garris’ expression tightened. “Please don’t freak out.”

“Okay,” he said slowly, straightening up. “What is it?”

“You know how Doctor Magnus and Tesla injected the Source Blood which gave them … well…their freaky long lives?” she asked.

Garris nodded, confusion clear on his face.

“Well,” Kate stalled, looking for the right phrase.

“Oh for gods’ sake,” Tesla rolled his eyes, “what Freeloader is trying to say is that the Source Blood turned me into a vampire.”

There was a split second of dead silence as Garris went white.

Before Henry knew it, Kate’s gun was out of its thigh holster and two shots had been fired dead into Tesla’s chest. With a look of faint surprise, the vampire fell back, dropping his wine glass on the carpet as he went.

“GARRIS!” Kate shouted, grabbing for the gun, which the New Praxian gave back quickly enough.

“Woah,” Henry and Will said together, impressed at the speed at which Garris had reacted.

A faint groan came from the vampire.

“Nikola?” Helen asked.

“This was a nice suit,” he grumbled, sitting upright and fingers toying with the new bullet holes in the pinstriped fabric. “My wine!”

“What the hell?” Garris pressed himself back, staring wide-eyed at Nikola.

“God don’t they learn anything these days?” Tesla grumbled, picking his wine glass up, and with a shrug, pouring himself another glass. “You can’t kill me with a bullet. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to kill me at all.”

“You’re a Sanguine Vampiris,” Garris said faintly.

Tesla rolled his eyes, grimacing melodramatically at his suit. “You clearly didn’t pick him for his brains. Also, why didn’t we remove all weapons before this little escapade?”

“You expect me to wander around the Sanctuary unarmed with all the stuff that happens on a regular basis here?” Kate asked pointedly.

“She has a point, Nikola,” the Doc said, receiving a scoff in return.

“How long?” Garris asked, looking accusingly at the assembled group.

“How long has he been a vampire, or how long have we known?” Henry asked.

“Both.”

“Since oooh, was is 86 or 87?” Nikola asked, looking over to Helen.

“Wasn’t it 85?”

“I submitted my thesis in 86, I think,” Tesla replied. “And it was our final semester, around winter-time-”

“But Father had gone away to the subcontinent,” Magnus argued. “I’m sure he was back in time for my thirty-fifth birthday, and by that point we’d injected the serum.”

“But I was definitely thirty by the time-”

“Hang on, when did you go to America?”

“Uh, guys?” Henry interjected, “I think that it really doesn’t matter that much. Since the 1880s, Garris.”

“The Source Blood gave me electrical powers, and reactivated latent vampire genes in my DNA,” Tesla explained.

“Are you a vampire too?” Garris asked, turning to Magnus.

“No. I suspect that the Source Blood reactivated latent genetic abilities, and there seem to have been no vampires in my ancestry,” Magnus replied. “Unlike Nikola, I can be killed and almost certainly will die at some point.”

“Not if you aren’t reckless,” Tesla tapped his armrests in an uneven staccato.

“The longevity has merely slowed the ageing process down so as to be imperceptible, but there’s still cellular signs of degradation,” she said almost gently.

“How long will you live?” Garris asked warily.

“Depends on if she gets herself killed,” Tesla muttered sourly.

“I’ve got centuries,” Magnus said, looking almost as old as the time around when Ashley died. Not for the first time Henry felt a rush of warmth and affection for her. It couldn’t be easy, getting attached to people when you knew they’d just die, and yet the Doc was always kind.

“You knew he was a vampire all this time?” Garris asked, looking at Kate accusingly. “You _know_ what vampires did to our people!”

“That’s why I wanted to tell you,” Kate said pleadingly. “I wanted you to know.”

“It’s something that needs to stay in house,” the Doc’s voice was grim and firm, and Henry inwardly shivered. [She was scary when she was mad]. “Just you. At some point I hope Nikola’s status can be disclosed to New Praxis, but not right now.”

Garris took a deep breath. “He’s a _vampire_ ,” he protested. “They tend to leave a trail of bodies behind them. I mean, how many people has he eaten!?”

“Technically, vampires don’t eat people,” Tesla’s voice was matter of fact, but there was an iciness to his tone that sent a shiver up Henry’s back. Henry preferred it when the Serbian was melodramatically angry; the quiet anger was much more dangerous (and fortunately, he’d only seen it once). “We drink their blood. And secondly, you’ve been here for days now, and in that time have you noticed any blood-depleted people wandering around?”

“So you’re saying you’ve never … fed on anyone?” Garris challenged.

The room went still, and Henry couldn’t help an involuntary gasp.

He’d never had the guts to ask Tesla, but had often wondered whether the other man had ever lost control. Jerk he might be, he never seemed to be in anything less than total, perfect control of his vampirism. Henry, on the other hand, still sometimes HAP-ed out when startled or angry or tired.

“What are you willing to believe?” Tesla shot back, clearly offended.

“Nikola,” Helen raised a hand to placate him, but it was too late.

“Do you want Henry’s assurance of safety as well?” Tesla complained, as Will’s phone rang. The psychiatrist sighed, clearly fascinated by the current conversation, but picked it up.

“I don’t recall a period of time where the HAP population controlled the world,” Garris argued back, some colour returning to his cheeks. “Your people kept us as slaves!”

“And the person responsible for the destruction of Praxis was what species again?”

“That was one person, not an entire species,” Garris objected.

“If one person’s wrongdoings cannot be projected onto the species, why can the species’ be projected onto an individual?” Tesla settled back in his chair, looking satisfied.

“You’re deflecting the question,” Garris accused. “Have you fed on people?”

“James and I supplied him,” the Doc’s words broke a tense silence, and Henry nearly gave himself whiplash by turning to look at her. “In the early days, before we developed his medication. Nigel too.”

Tesla’s face could have been carved out of granite, he was so still.

“And since then?”

“He doesn’t feed on people,” the Doc said matter-of-factly.

“Uh, Magnus?” Will had stepped back in to the room, holding his phone to his chest. “There’s a problem.”

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hadn't realised it had been two months! Time flies when you're busy, etc. Hope this makes up for the wait.

“What a shock,” the vampire muttered, but the Doctor ignored him.

“What is it, Will?” she asked.

“Abby has found something,” he said, nodding to Henry. “Pull up your email, she’s sent you a link.”

“A zip archive,” Henry tapped on the keyboard of the ever ready tablet he had with him. “Holy –”

“It’s a list of Abnormals,” Abby’s voice sounded small coming from Will’s phone. “SCIU has been keeping meticulous records of those they’ve rounded up.”

“Where are they taking them?” Magnus asked.

“A facility in Portland,” Abby said.

Garris had spent much of the conversation watching the vampire closely, alert to any sudden movements, and so he noticed the subtle shrug and shake of his head that the vampire gave in reponse to a glance from Magnus.

It was becoming increasingly clear to him that while the rest of the Sanctuary’s leaders may not have liked Tesla – indeed, only Henry seemed fond of the creature and even then, in exasperated terms – Magnus would protect him to the ends of the earth.

“It’s being masked as a scientific research facility,” Henry reported, looking over the top of his tablet.

“I’ve sent building plans,” Abby said.

“Got it,” Henry turned his tablet around.

“We need to go in there,” the vampire said. Garris noted the surprise on everyone’s faces, including Magnus.

“It’s not like you to volunteer,” Will said archly. “Since when are you so interested in thwarting SCIU?”

“Don’t be bitter, Wilhelm, it doesn’t suit you,” the vampire said patronisingly. “Helen, this facility wasn’t on my radar. No way do they build this in the space of the last six months, look at the building plans.”

“Where did you get this information?” Magnus ignored the two and addressed Abby.

“I got sent a letter with a USB,” Abby replied. “It said: Tell Helen Magnus. Nicky can vouch for the information.”

“Oh, it’s your friend,” Henry said suggestively.

“Alison Coates,” there was a hint of grim satisfaction in his tone. “Good girl.”

“This sounds like a trap,” Garris interjected.

“It’s not,” Tesla said firmly.

“What makes you so sure?” Will asked.

“I knew Alison’s grandfather,” the vampire said eventually after a long pause. “Petar was never much more than an average physicist, but he was observant enough to notice I didn’t age. He and his family kept in touch. I’ve known Ali since she was a child. Gave her a job in SCIU and gave her Abby’s details in case there was anything she wanted to pass along.”

“It’s not like you to keep in touch,” Magnus’ voice was bitter.

“Petar did the work of it,” Tesla said. “Who was I to say no to a bottle of good wine – he always kept a very well stocked cellar.”

Magnus rolled her eyes at him.

“I’ve verified parts of the information,” Abby spoke up. “Not all of it – I don’t want to trigger too many alarms.”

“The information is solid,” the vampire insisted. “Now we just need a plan to get in to the facility.”

* * *

 

Nine days later, Garris was creeping into the back door of the Portland facility. He’d insisted Tesla take point, having no intention of letting the vampire be behind him or Kate.

Over the last week or so he’d grudgingly settled on a wary truce. He didn’t trust the vampire any farther than he could throw him, but as they’d looked more and more at the data this Coates lady had sent, things had become increasingly grim. For the names that had been sent (and so far they numbered around seven hundred Abnormals), none of those listed had been seen again.

So, he, Kate, Will, and Tesla were on a mission to find and free the Abnormals.

And blow the place to hell if what they suspected was true.

The corridor was long and dark, and they pushed through some double doors to find themselves suddenly in a brightly lit corridor, adjacent to a large glass window.

“Oh my god,” Will choked, looking through the glass.

Garris followed the psychologist’s gaze to find a large white room full of huddled shapes. It took him a moment to realise that they were bodies.

Tesla alone didn’t seem to be captured by the scene, moving further down the corridor.

“There might be someone alive in there,” Kate said in a hushed voice, asking more than saying.

“Only one way to find out,” the vampire said, stepping away from a keypad as a door hissed.

Over the next hour, Garris would regret the instinctive rush that had the three of them hurry into the room to check whether anyone was alive.

It had been Will who had belatedly realised Tesla hadn’t followed them into the room.

“Tesla!” he shouted, and Garris turned to see the door closing shut behind them. The vampire moved into view in front of the glass window, pointing to his watch and holding a single finger in the air before moving out of view.

“Damn him,” Will cursed. “I’m going to kill him!”

“Not if I do first,” Garris promised.

“I don’t get it,” Kate said, “why lock us in here?”

“Who knows,” Garris said bitterly, looking at the inside of the door. He tried the handle, knowing it would be futile. “Sanguine Vampiris don’t exactly have a reputation for being dependable. Or sane.”

“Would the Door-Opener work?” Will asked resignedly, referring to Henry and Nikola’s invention that over-rode electronic locks.

“All the electronics are on the other side of the door,” Kate pointed out, but tried anyway.

It didn’t work.

“What are we supposed to do?” Garris said, looking to the two Sanctuary employees. “You’ve been in situations like this before.”

The two exchanged a glance.

“Wait,” Will said with a shrug.

“I can’t believe he’d actually hurt us – the Doc would kill him,” Kate said hopefully.

Time passed slowly in the fluorescent, bright, room. The three of them huddled near the locked door, unwilling to venture too far into the room. The smell of death permeated the area, and Garris couldn’t help but think it odd that the room should be so bright when it was clearly little more than a grave.

Finally, the door swung open silently.

“I’m going to kill you-“ Will’s threat trailed off as they took in Tesla’s appearance.

The normally clean and pressed suit had a number of holes in it, indicating that he’d been shot. He was covered in blood, far more than could be his.

Most surprisingly, he was giving a small child a piggy-back ride, and behind him stood twenty or so other people, ranging in age from no more than eight or nine to an elderly looking lady whose greenish-hued skin gave her away as a nymph.

“We don’t have much time,” the vampire snapped, lowering the child on his back to the ground, with some difficulty as the child was reluctant to let go. “Take the boy, and follow me. You’re going to need to steal one of the trucks to get everyone out.”

“Where have you been?” Kate asked.

“These are all that’s left,” Tesla stated grimly, pushing the child at Garris who reflexively took him. The boy was about five, and he clung to Garris’ neck tightly. “Unfortunately, one of the guards managed to alert headquarters before I could stop him. SCIU will descend on this place at any moment.”

“We haven’t had time to plant the explosives,” Garris objected.

“Don’t worry,” the vampire said with a sharp flash of clean teeth. “This abominable place will blow.”

“How?” Will asked.

“There’s no time,” Tesla turned and started herding those behind him back up the corridor. “ _That’s_ a gas chamber. I’ve altered the gas composition – it’ll be almost 100% pure oxygen coming through the pipelines which traverse this complex. I’ve set C4 on a timer; rudimentary, but it will work.”

“One spark and it’ll be up like a bomb,” Will breathed.

“Exactly,” they rounded a corner to find two bodies in SCIU uniforms. Blood was sprayed up the walls, and it looked rather like a scene from one of the movies Kate was so fond of.

Their throats had been cut.

“Keep moving,” barked the vampire dispassionately, and they hurried along behind him. Kate took the old lady’s arm to help steady her.

As they continued through the complex, Garris felt bile rising in his throat. They passed more and more bodies, most in uniforms and holding guns, but some were simply wearing lab coats and holding what must have been coffee cups from the smell of the brown liquid that oozed from broken ceramic shards.

“How many did you kill?” Will asked breathlessly, the shock coming through clearly.

“All of them,” the vampire stopped suddenly, opening a door to the right that opened into a covered garage. Five military trucks stood in a line.

“You know how to hotwire a car?” Tesla threw a grin at Kate, who smiled weakly, clearly taken aback by Tesla's grim statement.

“In my sleep,” she scampered into one of the trucks.

"How many is all of them?" Will asked, slackjawed. "You didn't think of _talking_ with any of them?!"

"About the weather?" Tesla replied caustically. "How many doesn't matter, once you start. That was a gas chamber, William, and those are only ever used for mass destruction."

The silence was broken by the sound of the engine roaring into life. Garris and Will helped load the refugees into the back of the covered tray before hopping in themselves.

Garris, out of the corner of his eye, saw the vampire start to turn away.

"Where do you think you are going?" he snarled, grabbing his arm.

"I-"

"I'm not letting a Sanguine Vampiris just walk around unsupervised," Garris said forcefully. "Get in."

He held his breath as the vampire stared at the hand on his arm. Tesla was clearly more than capable of physically doing whatever he wanted, but to Garris' relief the vampire shrugged and allowed himself to be dragged into the bed of the truck.

Will banged on the window separating them from the driver’s side to indicate they could go. Garris moved away from Tesla, and watched through the window as Kate pulled out of the complex, driving as fast as she could through the Monday afternoon traffic to the entrance.

Unloading on the nearest corner – to the surprised states of onlookers who had clearly not expected to see a motley crew of adults and children unloaded from the bed of a military transport, the group hurried down a narrow alley, and into the tunnel entrance (disguised as a man hole cover).

Pulling the cover over them, Tesla’s teeth glinted in the dark.

“Well, that went rather well,” he said, as a muffled explosion was heard and the ground shuddered. 

Their pace slowed now that they were underground, and the refugees with them were clearly starting to come to terms with their shock. As they settled into a transport sphere, the little boy let out a sob.

"Where are we going?" asked one of the older children, putting an arm protectively around the younger child.

"The Sanctuary," Will replied.

" _The_ Sanctuary?" the elderly lady asked. "It was blown up."

"This is the new Sanctuary," Kate explained.


End file.
